Conspiracy Theory
by The Musings of a Muse
Summary: Have you ever had to make a life or death choice before? And I mean an actual life or death choice. One where if you said yes, you;d live, and saying no would get you killed. Well, I chose life, as any normal person would, except for the fact that it ended with a knife at my throat. Though, I'm not sure it was ever mine to live; my entire life has always been a Conspiracy.


**Well, this is my first MR fanfiction. A friend of mine said I should post it, so I did. I'm not new to Fanfiction or anything so I was happy to dabble a bit into this fandom.**

**I don't own Maximum Ride. That right belongs exclusively to James Patterson. That lucky, lucky person.**

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"Mornin' sluts! Let's get up and movin'! We wouldn't want to waste a bright and wonderful day in the presence of moi, now would we?" Sitting up from her position on the floor, Allison glared as the ever-overbearing presence of her eldest sister.

"You're the only slut that I see, Julia." Came a heated, albeit muffled, response to Allison's overly sensitive ears, though she knew that it wasn't meant for the mentioned person to hear. A sideways glance to the right revealed the loathing amber-eyed glare of the black, magenta striped-haired teen. Both of the two girl's parents had died in a freak accident, leaving the two twins in the care of their older sister turned hooker. The traumatic experience had left both of the two twins emotionally detached from the world and all together uncaring of the world's opinion of them.

A flash of light brought the other raven haired girl's attention to the balcony where Julia was standing in a _very _short and _very _low-cut _white _tee-shirt. All three girls of the Smith family were quite well endowed, though the younger two were a bit more discreet than their eldest sibling. The sound of shuffling blankets alerted Allison to the fact the Alicia was heading back to sleep, leaving her to put up with Julia.

Muttering under her breath, Allison rolled her eyes and stretched her sore muscles skywards; three years of sleeping on a floor and you'd think that you'd get used to it, right? Standing up after Julia had walked back into the house, leaving the balcony door wide open so that the chilly February air could waft in, Allison heard the TV click on down the hall, this meant the Julia expected breakfast on the front porch of their shitty down-bad-side-of-town Detroit apartment.

Glaring disdainfully at her twin, who was now back to sleeping contentedly on the couch, Allison put her hands on her hips before reaching for the white down comforter that her sister had wrapped herself in. "Get your lazy ass up and help me clear out all the man-whores from our apartment. I call dibs on making our resident Princess Prostitute breakfast." Throwing the blanket well out of the other girl's reach, Allison took off towards the kitchen while Alicia groaned and flopped her head back into her pillow.

"Well then, little slave-sisters of mine, I'm off to the Silver Rhythm for today; heard they got themselves a hot new bartender. Don't wait up and certainly don't put your worthless lives on hold for my account!" And with that, Julia was gone, leaving them to clean up her breakfast and watch the house.

"Why is it that everytime she leaves, we're the ones who have to watch the house? We live in Detroit for goodness sake! It's not like we have anything here that's all that valuable." Setting the TV remote down on the coffee table, Alicia glared at the front door in contempt, "It's just not fair that _she _gets to go out and we have to stay here all the time."

Hopping of the countertop, Allison rolled her eyes once more at her sister's childish behavior, "Oh, so you'd rather get to go out and have a whole bunch of sex-addicted men trying to get some off of you? No thanks, I'm perfectly fine with being a virgin." Sighing, Alicia flopped down off the back of the couch to the right end, making room for the elder twin to hop over the back of the black leather piece of furniture and settle down with a bowl of popcorn.

"You know that's not what I mean. Why are you eating popcorn?" Shrugging, Allison offered up the bowl to her counterpart, waiting for her to take a handful before answering.

"Because we haven't gone grocery shopping in several weeks and this is now all that we have left to sustain us."

"Ah, that makes more sense." Silence descended on the two as the munching of popcorn was the only sound. Cars and sirens were heard out of their open window as well as the sound of a clunking mail truck with its lights flashing across the snowy roads. Several minutes later, the truck pulled away and they were left in silence once more.

"Well~," Alicia began, eyeing her sister – who was licking the popcorn bowl – with a look of amused confusion, "I'm going to go get the mail...maybe the entrance results for the Vegas trip are in." Nodding her head to show that she heard, Allison dug her head farther into the bowl, trying to get the last lick of the salty popcorn butter that was on the bottom of it. Licking her lips once she had eaten the little treat, Allison looked her sister up and down and gave a chortle of laughter.

"You may want to think about changing first, somehow I think that walking outside in your lingerie and a big tee is still frowned upon, even in Detroit."

"Fine, fine. I'll go change first if it'll make you happy, oh wise and hypocritical sister of mine." Standing up with a huff, Alicia took off towards Julia's room, where the two girls were forced to keep all their belongings and valuables because all the other rooms were, well, there were no other rooms in the _one room apartment_.

"What does she mean by hypocritical? At least I'm not wearing lingerie under a short tee-shirt..." Allison looked down at herself for the first time that morning, pulling at the loose white tee that she had on over her black sports bra. She honestly didn't think that there was that much of a problem with what she was wearing; it was just a tee and some basketball shorts.

A closing door sounded down the hall and Allison then knew that her twin had already left to grab the mail. Gaze shifting from her now empty popcorn bowl to the rest of the house, Allison realized just how big of a dump the place was. Bowls were scattered everywhere – amidst the random articles of clothing – and different wrappers of all kinds were hiding in every corner of the room. Stains littered the carpet in a hodgepodge of colors and textures while the paint on the wall was peeling from the ceiling down. Flickering lights from above her just completed the overall dump-like aura of the apartment and made the ever growing itch to ditch the place come back tenfold.

"Well, we didn't win the trip to Vegas," Another slam of the door shifted Allison's attention to her twin who had come back in with the keys to their apartment in her mouth and both hands full of mail and letters, "but, we got invited to go to an expo for some 'New Earth' movement. It's supposed to be good – there was even an expo about it that went on in Paris before the sewer line exploded. Do you remember that? It was all over on the news. Anyways, here's the card to it; check it out and see if you want to go, 'cause I think I'm going to."

Catching the postcard-like piece of poster board, Allison set down the blue popcorn bowl and scrutinized the piece of cardboard while her sister shifted through the rest of the mail.

_Have you ever wondered what a new world would be like? One without war and suffering? Well, we with the New Earth movement have; and what's more is that we've found a way to achieve it. Join us, February 19th at 3PM in town square, to witness the new age of people and humanity. All of our staff will be there to answer any questions that you may have and to be exemplar models of the new age! Every single person who comes will return back home with a new mindset and a very new life! Remember, don't get left behind by the times!_

"And you want to go to this freak show, why?"

"Come on, Ali, do you really want to be stuck inside for the rest of the day? Julia's off to the new club to play around with a bartender and we're stuck doing nothing! Let's live a little and go laugh it up at all the people who think they can bring about a 'New Earth'." Looking down at the brightly colored postcard that was held in her hand, Allison couldn't help but agree with Alicia; they _should _get out and do more, especially if they wanted to meet a guy and actually get somewhere in the world.

"Fine, you've got a point. Let's go meet us some guys and get somewhere with our lives. You can see Town Square from the top of Subs, right?" Getting off of the leather sofa, Allison had made her way over to the balcony, and drawing a deep breath, she yelled down from their sixth floor, one room apartment, to a shop down the street where a man she and Alicia had dubbed 'Hillbilly Stille' ran a sub shop called 'Subs 2 Go'.

"Yo! Old man! Ya' there?" holding her breath while straining her ears for an answer, Allison was aware of Alicia coming up behind her to lean against the black metal railing as well.

"What'd ya' want, ya' brat?" Came to echoing reply to their shout. Grinning from ear to ear the two girls let out a whoop and scrambled back inside to get ready to go; Stille was in a good mood, for the time being, anyways.

Allison ran and threw on the first pair of jeans that she found in her drawer, a dark denim with holes in the knees and thighs. And a long sleeved light blue shirt from right next to it. Her gray Columbia zip up sweatshirt completed the look as well as a pair of black sneakers. Running out of Julia's room – the smell was making her a bit nauseous – Allison saw Alicia standing by the door, twirling the key ring around her right index finger.

"Hurry up, the expo is gonna start in less than forty-five minutes, and getting into Subs and Drugs is gonna take more than fifteen minutes, even if Stille _is_ in a good mood!" Rolling her eyes, Allison grabbed a heavier winter coat and a light pair of gloves; it _was _Februaryfor goodness sake!

"Chill, we'll make it there. It's not like ol' Stille is gonna let anyone else grab a spot on his roof anyways. He only lets us because we buy something every time we're there. Though he has yet to try and sell us any drugs..." Alicia laughed as she stepped out the door, holding it open for her twin counterpart. A widely known fact about 'Subs 2 Go' was that fact that Stille sold drugs from the basement of his shop; hence the reason the two girls had dubbed the shop 'Subs and Drugs' instead of its original title.

"Hm, maybe he does have some morals then."

"I highly doubt that."

"Yo, Stille! We're here!" Entering through the front door, the little silver bell at the top of the door gave a ring and the two cherry nosed twins walked to the middle of the store, relishing the warm air that wafted over them from the overhead vents.

"Yeah, I kin hear ya'. What'cha brats want now?" Stillie had appeared coming down the stairs; he was a hunched over little man that always carried his wooden cane around with him. A pair of thin wire glasses always sat perched on his sharp little nose, highlighting his beady black eyes that never failed to see the ulterior motives the two twins had cooked up. Dark jeans with suspenders hung off his sharp – though large boned – shoulders and a grungy white – or what they suppose _had _been white – and red striped button up was fitted on the upper part of his body. Wispy white hair and pale skin made him look over all like a carnival conductor – minus the funny flat, red striped hat.

"Well," Alicia started, her eyes darting over to her sister for assistance. If there had been one thing the girls had learned about Stille, it was the fact that he didn't take kindly to lies or word games. You had better just say what you mean and mean what you say if you intended to get along with the old coot.

"Stille, I'm gonna be blunt," Allison caught on the where her sister was going with her wide-open statement, and moving in towards Stille, they both watched with wary attention. When he didn't make a move to stop Allison from speaking, the girl continued, "Alicia and I want to watch the 'New Earth' expo that's going on in Town Square...," she was baiting Stille to see it he would understand where she was going with all this. To his credit, for a guy up and well in his seventies, Stille caught on right away.

"And you two don't wanna stan' in da' cold like all 'em oter' suckers, right?" Beaming, Allison gave a twirl and a bow, winking at the old shopkeeper for emphasis.

"Sharp as always, Stille. Now, would you happen to know where we could find a place that has somewhere warm to sit as well as a great view over Town Square?"

"My store. Yer' sayin' that ya' wanna set up shop on da' top of my store. There's gonna be a steep price for tat' request, Miss. Smith. You an' yer' sister o'er there have free time dis' year, right? I'll expect ya' o'er 'ere by noon every weekend 'till Septem'er, yeah?" Looking at each of the girls with his eerie smirk in place, he cackled as they exchanged disbelieving glances, "You could'a worked fer' an entire year, girlies, but ol' Stille's gonna be generous and only make ya' work 'til Septem'er, see? What'cha say? Stille's only gonna have the offer up fer' a lil' while longer'. Best ya' make up yer' minds quick now." Allison turned her back on her sister, long since having straightened up from her mock bow. They couldn't accept the offer, Julia would know too quickly that they left the house without her permission and she'd be livid over it. The two girls weren't even legally supposed to exist; their two bodies had been found at the scene of the crime and buried not long after. Julia would skin them alive if they did something to get themselves caught out in public.

"We decli––"

"Accept! We accept your offer, Stille! Expect us to come in on Saturday." Whirling around to face Alicia, Allison was met with a pair of blazing topaz eyes that bore into her own icy amethyst ones. Another cackle of laughter sounded behind her, and a hand clamped down on her shoulder. Tensing up, Allison tried to shrug the hand from her shoulder, but it only tightened. Alicia started to come up, eyes filled with confusion, but that only made Stillie cackled all the more.

"Pleasure doin' business with ya', lassies." And he was gone.

"It's official, that dude _completely _freaks me out! What was with the whole grabbing your shoulder thing about?" Rubbing said shoulder unconsciously, Allison continued to hold her unfocused gaze over the preparations of the 'New Earth' expo. What Stille had done had dug up some memories that Allison had rather left buried six feet under.

"That bastard knows about them too...and I was in such a good mood earlier!" Turning to her sibling, Alicia smiled apologetically at her. They both had bad memories about people being just a bit too close to them for comfort.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now, Ali, we're just going to have to live with what we've been given, right? We'll find a way out this mess eventually, all we can do it be patient and hope for the best." Nodding her head, Allison continued to stare at the preparations for the upcoming event, clenching her fist over her right shoulder all the while.

"Hey, Alicia, how much longer until this thing actually starts?"

"Um...there's still thirty five minutes, why?"

"Damnit! I really could use a distraction right about – what was that?" squinting in the direction Allison was pointing, Alicia could barely make out a disturbance by the stage area; it appeared to be two older teens running after a younger kid. Being fifteen themselves, Allison and Alicia couldn't really fathom _why _the two older ones were doing what they were doing, though the scream for help that reached their ears made both of them leap into action fairly quickly.

"Honestly Ali, you really have GOT to stop speaking things to life!" Grinning, Alicia made her way over to the door, but she paused when silence greeted her comment, "Ali? Ali, where'd you go?" Turning around in a three-sixty, Alicia's search was met with the findings of an empty roof. Groaning, Alicia looked up towards the overcast sky, pleading to whatever deity that may be there that her sister wasn't really that stupid, "She didn't do what I think she did, did she?" A quick dash over to the side of the building yielded to Alicia the sight of her twin sliding down the fire escape to the alleyway below. A strangled gasp escape the slightly more level-headed teen when Allison slid several feet and almost missed the last platform – coming quite close to hitting her head on the pavement below.

"Come on, Alicia! This was is a whole lot fas–– "

"YOU IDIOT! You could have died doing that! Don't you ever think before you do something? I swear, you're more impulsive than me!" Blinking owlishly at Alicia, Allison worked her jaw, though nothing of substance came out of her mouth until Alicia hit the ground the same way she had.

"Well, it's not all that difficult to be more impulsive than you; do you ever _not _think before you do things?" Sighing, Alicia folded her arms over her chest and closed her eyes, tilting her head to the clouds just as Allison did the same exact thing.

"Sometimes I wonder just how we're related." Opening their eyes, the two glared impassively at each other before breaking out in grins; maybe if they were able to say and think the exact same thing, they were related after all.

Scrunching up her face in a confused expression, Allison put a finger to her lips, "Weren't we supposed to be doing something right about now? It feels like there should have been some – Oh yeah! That little girl!" Slapping a palm to her face and slowly dragging it down in a much exaggerated motion, Alicia muttered under her breath about how she still couldn't believe they were related; even though they looked exactly the same. Another scream for help came a bit closer to the girls' position, almost as if the person in need of help was less than a street away.

"Iggy! She went down that alley!"

"Gee, that's wonderful, Fang! Now if only I could _see_ where that alley _is_!"

"It's that way you dolt! _That _way!"

"Fang; _listen to me_! _Which _wayis _that _way?"

"Left, Iggy! _Left_!" Looking at each other with stunned confusion, Alicia and Allison could only watch stupidly as the two people chased the little dirty blond down the alley, straight into them.

"Don't let them catch me! Please don't let them catch me! I don't want to go back to where they want me to! I want to stay here; I don't wanna be hurt anymore!" Kneeling down, Alicia wrapped her arms around the trembling girl while Allison stepped out in from of both of them, blocking the two male pursuers' path. Alicia tried to quiet the blonde's incoherent mumblings that spoke of hurt and loneliness at the hands of the two teenagers in front of her.

"What the hell did you two bastards do to her? I'll know if you're lying, so just tell me straight up!" Clenching her fists, Allison glared at the two perpetrators – who she now knew to be dubbed Fang and Iggy – in as menacing a way as she possibly could for a five foot six inch girl.

"Dude, is that a _girl _talking?" Raising an eyebrow, Iggy turned towards Fang, focusing, Allison noticed, on a point that was just a little to the top right of the dark-eyed boy's hoodie. Though as soon as the words he had said set in, he was looking straight into the pavement.

"Damn straight! I'm a girl and damn proud of it! You got something against the superior sex, Strawberry?" Iggy's hood had flipped off when Allison had none too gently thrown him to the ground. Glaring at the now upright boy at her feet, she risked a glance backwards; Alicia had been way too quiet for way too long throughout the exchange. Her sister was a very non-violence kind of person and the entire exchange that Allison was having with the hooded teens should have ticked her off enough to give her hot-headed sister a good pounding.

Allison's eyes widened, stricken with shock and absolute disbelief as the shine of serrated steel caught her eye. The blond girl that she and her sister had protected had thrown a knife at her! Heart beating erratically, Allison's muscles tensed as the entire world slowed down, and her breath came out in clouded gasps of condensing white air. Every beat of her heart sounded in her ears, a loud pounding that roared with unchecked terror and adrenaline. A spot of red distracted Allison for a minute, drawing her wide-eyed gaze towards it.

A strangled scream escaped through her lips, not from the feeling of free falling backwards, or the feeling of having her legs knocked out from under her, but from the sight of her younger twin laying in a pool of her own blood, blank amber eyes staring out back at Allison with a parted mouth to shout out a warning that never came into existence. Allison hit the ground with a dull thud, her head knocking against something not so hard, but still far from soft. Strong arms enveloped her torso while a muffled voice spoke out to her, trying to calm her, she knew. But nothing got through to her. All she could see was her sister, then one she had grown up with and almost died with, laying there so much like the night they had unofficially died. Allison started to struggle, unaware that the strawberry blond behind her had saved her life by swiping her feet out from under her and allowing for the knife to sail over her head.

All she could think about was the fact that her sister might be – probably _was – _dead.

_I have to get to her! She can't be dead, she can't be! We were going to go and find a way out of this mess together, find our own lives and support ourselves how _we _wanted to! We can't do that if she's not here! There's no 'we' if she's not here! She can't be dead! She couldn't have died on me! _Allison's frantic thoughts were all but private, not that the emotionally distraught girl knew that at all. Everything that came to her mind was said out loud for the two teens to hear, and there was one more word shared, right as she got free and had started crawling towards Alicia, between Iggy and Fang before her mind registered a gust of wind and a single silver feather floated into her line of sight.

A whispered word sounded behind her in a teenager's deepening baritone, "Sorry."

And Allison's world faded to black.

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**I don't like Julia. I don't like her at all. So, I suppose that's why her character is like this. So, what do you think? Do you want me to continue with the story? Was the language or material offending to anyone? I don't want to burden anyone with my thoughts, though I do like how I started this story. Who do you guys think that little blondie is? FYI I don't like her either. And, no, it's not Angel, I'll say that right now. I'll explain why Iggy and Fang are together and not with their respective groups soon, but this is going to be an OC X Character story, so, yeah. Though, who will end up with who will remain a mystery for another chapter.**

**Read and Review please! I'll try to update whenever I'm not working on Reasons, ok?**

**Sorry for any mistakes. I am currently editing all of my own writing, and sometimes I miss things. I am, however, looking for a Beta. If you're interested, shoot me a line and we'll figure something out, ok? Thanks! **

**Ciao~!**


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